Lasoski And Smith Win Twin 30s

Danny Lasoski (left) and Stevie Smith (right) each won one of the Twin 30 lap features and Lasoski was the overall Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Champion based on having the best average finish in the two races. (World of Outlaws photo by Cyndi Craft)

RacinToday.com

Sarver, PA— July 22, 2009—Danny Lasoski and Stevie Smith made history on Wednesday night at Lernerville Speedway as they split the first ever Twin-30 lap features in the annual Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at the high-banked track located just outside of Pittsburgh as the “Month of Money” rolls on for the World of Outlaws.

Lasoski was victorious in the first 30-lapper after taking the lead from Jason Sides with 10 laps remaining and holding off a furious charge from him over the last few laps to score the $15,000 win, while Smith got around Danny Smith with just four laps remaining in the second 30-lapper to also earn $15,000.

Lasoski made a little more history as it was his first career win at Lernerville Speedway, after finishing second at the track four times in his career. Coupled with a seventh-place finish in the second feature event, that made him the overall champion of the 2009 Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup.

“It’s an honor to win the Don Martin,” said Lasoski. “It’s a race that everyone wants to win. I had finished here second quite a few times and was never able to quite put a full night together and tonight we did. This is a great win for this whole team. Like I said before, we win as a team and we lose as a team.”

Lasoski lined up second and stayed right with Jason Sides who started on the pole for the first 20 laps of the 30-lap contest. The 2001 series champion nearly took the lead on the high side of the track on the seventh lap and again on the 13th lap.

He kept working up top in traffic and following a lap-20 restart was able to power his way around Sides on the high of turns one and two on the 21st lap to take the top spot. He would go on to lead the remainder of the race with Sides catching him over the last three laps and the pair coming off the fourth turn on the last lap nearly side-by-side with Lasoski winning a drag race to the line by just 0.176 seconds aboard the Casey’s General Store JEI.

“I just knew that I had to get a good clean run, because his car was good across the middle and I was good up top,” explained the winner. “I had to have either lapped traffic or a good wide race track and that’s what we had. We had an opportunity and took advantage of it.”

Sides led 20 laps on the night and finished second in the Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim for the third time this season. He began the night by turning the quickest lap in time trials for the fifth time this season.

Steve Kinser was third in the Quaker State Maxim, with Tim Kaeding fourth in the DTR Transport KPC. Tim Shaffer was fifth at his home track aboard the Kistler Engines J&J. Jason Meyers was sixth in the GLR Investments KPC. Lance Dewease was seventh piloting the Infinity Design J&J, with Ed Lynch Jr. eighth aboard the Howard Concrete J&J. Sammy Swindell was ninth in the Tom Rolfe Trucking Maxim and three-time and defending series champion and current series point leader Donny Schatz rounded out the Top-10 in the Armor All J&J.

Prior to the second 30-lap feature, teams has about 20 minutes to work on their machine before the lead lap finishers from the first race were inverted, putting winner Danny Lasoski in the 19th spot to start the contest.

In the second 30-lapper Stevie Smith tracked down Danny Smith with just four laps remaining, getting under him off of turns three and four to take the lead. He then held off a last late charge by Jac Haudenschild to win by a mere 0.175 seconds. For Smith, it was his fifth win in World of Outlaws action at the track and the seventh of his career at the high-banked four-tenths-mile.

“This feels great,” said Smith. “This is where I won my first race and I always look forward to coming back here. The fact that Don (Martin) built this place and the tradition is still here is a good feeling to come here and an even better feeling to win.”

Lasoski’s win was his fifth of the season and the 86th of his career with the World of Outlaws. He is currently in the fifth spot in the series championship standings.

“We’ve been working hard all year and the longer we go, the better we get,” shared Lasoski. “That is due to dedication and good hard teamwork. We’re real proud of everyone on this team and it’s an honor for me to drive this car.”

Smith lined up seventh in the second 30-lapper after finishing 13th in the first event in the Zemco Speed Equipment Maxim. He ran seventh for the first 13 laps of the race before getting around Terry McCarl to move into sixth. From there, he worked on Craig Dollansky and Joey Saldana. He also gained a spot after Kraig Kinser spun while running second.

After getting around Saldana to take the third spot on the 21st lap, he would battle Jac Haudenschild for the next five laps. He worked his way past him with just five laps remaining and on the 26th lap in heavy traffic he dove under Danny Smith in turns three and four to take the lead and would pace the field for the remaining four laps en route to the 67th A-Feature win of his career with the World of Outlaws which was worth $15,000.

“I was on it the whole race, it just takes a while,” said Smith. “They tilled the track and made it good and we all had to race as hard as we could just to keep up. You have to run every lap as hard as you can and hopefully you’ll end up at the front when it’s over.”

Jac Haudenschild finished second in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Maxim with Danny Smith in the Doug Williams Trucking Maxim in third. Craig Dollansky was fourth in the DirecTV Maxim, with his teammate Joey Saldana fifth in the Budweiser Maxim. Terry McCarl was sixth in the Big Game Treestands Maxim. Danny Lasoski was seventh in the Casey’s General Store JEI to wrap up the overall Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup title for having the best finishing position in the Twin-30 lap events. Lance Dewease was eighth in the Infinity Design J&J, with Jason Meyers ninth piloting the GLR Investments KPC. Donny Schatz rounded out the Top-10 in the Armor All J&J.

The World of Outlaws return to action on Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25 at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania for the annual Summer Nationals, with $20,000 awaiting the winner in the finale.

• FOUR-TENTHS-MILE WINNERS: Lernerville Speedway is a high-banked four-tenths-mile oval. The World of Outlaws have raced three times this season on a track that size. The winners included: Danny Lasoski (Lernerville Speedway), Joey Saldana (The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway) and Stevie Smith (Lernerville Speedway).

Note- Kraig Kinser and Lucas Wolfe used World of Outlaws provisionals to start the A-Feature. Jack Sodeman Jr. and Brent Matus used Lernerville Speedway track provisionals to start the A-Feature. Mike Lutz started the A-Feature as the alternate after Cody Darrah was not able to get his car fired.